North Shore Biker Injured By Hit-And-Run Driver Now Looking For Justice

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READING (CBS) —- Linda Columbus says it was a beautiful morning Friday, August 16th, she decided to ride her pride and joy to work.

Linda Columbus was riding this bike at the time of the crash. (WBZ-TV)

“I love my bike. It’s my dream bike,” she said.

As Linda drove down Village Street in Reading on her Honda VTX 1300, she noticed a car coming down a side street up ahead.

“I had a feeling he was going to overshoot it,” she said. The driver ran the stop sign and hit her. “I just went all the way across the front of his car and then I stopped.”

Amazingly, this 25-year motorcycle veteran was able to keep her bike upright, despite incredible damage to her right leg.

“If I had gone down I know he would’ve run right over me,” she said.

Bleeding and screaming for help, she watched as the driver just took off.

“It’s pretty disgusting that somebody can just hit somebody and just keep going. How do you hit somebody and just keep going,” she asked.

Linda got a look at the car, which she described as a tan sedan, about the size of a Ford Taurus.

“He was stopped. When I looked in my rear view window he was stopped and then he just kept going,” she said.

She’s already had two surgeries and will likely have more.

“I have a complex fracture and arterial blockage and I had compartment syndrome where your legs swell up so much it does damage to the muscle,” she explained.

We interviewed her in a rehabilitation facility in Danvers just before she headed back to the hospital because of an infection.

Linda is hopeful whoever hit her will come forward. That person robbed her of an active life and for that, they should face the consequences.

“Turn yourself in. It’s the right thing to do. If you hit a dog and you’d stop to see, you know,” she said. “It’s the right thing to and even if you didn’t think you did much damage it’s a lot of damage and a lot of to my life.”

The president of the North Shore Women On Wheels motorcycle club, she’s getting a lot of support from friends. One even built railings on her porch so she’ll have an easier time once home. She’s determined to eventually join them back on the road.

“Next spring…it’ll take about six months to get this all back,” she said.

Reading Police are investigating the crash, but so far there have been no arrests.